Annual celebration of faith and culture transforms Kennedy Park

Friday

Aug 29, 2014 at 12:01 AM

If it's late August in Fall River, it can mean only one thing: festa time.

MICHAEL SMITH

If it's late August in Fall River, it can mean only one thing: festa time.

Once again from all corners of the globe, brotherhoods, philharmonic bands and people of all backgrounds came to Fall River's Kennedy Park for the four-day Great Feast of the Holy Ghost of New England.

Since 1986, the feast has been a colorful beacon, driving in thousands of people from as far away as Canada, but you don't have to be in the park to witness some of that color.

Donizetti Franklin of Franklin's Wholesale has been camped out in the same spot at the corner of Park and South Main streets for the last 18 years. The Moose Café stands there now, but Franklin has seen many other kinds of businesses here.

"I think this place used to be a car dealership when I started here," Franklin said.

Franklin's stand rained color as flags of all kinds unfurled in the weekend wind.

"I have flags from 192 nations — the same amount of countries in the Untied Nations," said Franklin, who is of Italian and Brazilian descent.

As dusk settled on the feast grounds Friday night, Joseph Gonsalves and several hundred people were already lined up around three long tables topped with sweet bread and pork. The food, called "pensoes," would be blessed and distributed among the needy. Gonsalves, who has attended for "many, many years," said eight buses arrived with people from Canada for the occasion.

"My own in-laws from Montreal are down here for two weeks just for the feast," he said.

Before the blessing of the food, Fall River Mayor William Flanagan addressed those gathered.

"This is a celebration of culture, art, food, religion and of people of all backgrounds," he said. "I am proud to see another feast of the Holy Ghost."

One of the many highlights of the four-day feast is the Saturday morning parade, which begins at the Gates of the City, winds up Columbia Street and turns on South Main toward Kennedy Park.

Around 10 a.m., the parade had made its way to South Main and Union streets, where Fatima Cabral and her family were camped out in front of Commodity Exchange.

"We just got here a few minutes ago, but my grandparents were here at 7 a.m. with all our chairs to save a spot."

Cabral's grandparents had the right idea as the street was lined with thousands of people several rows deep. Any walking had to be done in the street to get somewhere.

As parades of ethnic floats handed out food and folkloric musicians and performers from New Jersey, Connecticut, and Canada danced for the masses, Cabral said she was witnessing her favorite part of the feast.

"I love the ethnicity of it," she said.

On Sunday, the celebration of culture continued with the procession of brotherhoods and philharmonic bands from all over New England as they lined up in front of St. Anne's Church, where Fall River resident Alan DeCosta watched.

"The bands from Fall River were particularly loud," he said.

Bands came from as near as down the street and from as far away as Providence and Stoughton to entertain.

While hundreds watched the procession on South Main Street, some people, such as John Tupaj, took advantage of the short lines at the food court to grab some chourico or cacoila.

"It's very good," Tupaj said of his bowl of fava beans, as his wife Cindy snacked on malassadas, a sugar-covered fried dough.

As the last band moved past St. Anne's Church, crowds once again made their way to the grounds and food court, creating long lines of happy — and hungry — patrons.

DeCosta, who lives a few blocks away, said he was going to return in the evening after a break to listen to some music.

"There's all kinds of stuff going on," he said.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.